Conhecimento e Representações Sociais para sífilis adquirida em idosos de uma região de vulnerabilidade no Brasil

Abstract

Sexually transmitted infections (STI’s) have accompanied mankind for millennia. In the last few decades, there has been a significant increase of these diseases among the population aged over 60 years. In elders, contamination by STI’s is facilitated by the aging process, in which the individual undergoes physiological changes, such as reduced cellular and humoral immunity, along with unprotected sexual practice. The goal was to evaluate the serological profile and identify the social representations and characterize knowledge about Syphilis in elders in an interior town in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. This is a study of qualitative and quantitative approach, of a prospective, analytical and descriptive aspect. A semi-structured questionnaire was applied, in order to know the socioeconomic profile, the sexual behavior, as well as analyze the social representations of these elders faced with this sexually transmitted infection. To analyze the lexical results, the IRAMUTEQ software was used. To evaluate the serological profile of this group faced with syphilis, the rapid immunochromatographic treponemal test was performed. The tests were run on 133 participants, aged between 60 and 84 years on both genders, with a non-reactive result in 100% of the elders. Of the participants, 118 elders were interviewed. The most uttered words in relation to syphilis were “don’t know”, followed by “disease” and “bad”, which represent 50% of the frequencies. Some participants stated that it is a disease, something “very bad”, “dangerous”, which requires treatment and care. Of the participants, 79% stated not to use preservatives, and 83% declared not to know how syphilis manifests itself. Social representations of syphilis for these elders are centered on the lack of knowledge on what this disease is, its prevention method and the way it manifests itself on the individual. These results show that the elderly are vulnerable to syphilis and other sexually transmitted infections. The low level of knowledge, associated with the lack of dialogue from the health professionals with the elders about the sexuality of the elderly, points to an individual, programmatic vulnerability. Meeting and understanding this population’s knowledge of syphilis is fundamental to elaborate more efficient health promotion and disease prevention strategies to combat the increase of this STI’s transmission.